Islamic attitudesOsama bin Laden's standing has dropped significantly in some key Muslim countries, while support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence has "declined dramatically", accord-ing to a new survey.
In a striking finding, predominantly Muslim populations in a sampling of six North African, Middle East and Asian countries are as alarmed as Western nations about Islamic extremism, now seen as a threat in their own nations, the poll found.
"Most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past. Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries, and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defence of Islam," concluded the Pew Global Attitudes Project.
The new poll also found growing majorities or pluralities of Muslims surveyed now say democracy can work in their countries and is not just a political system for the West.
Support for democracy was in the 80 per cent range in Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco, and the highest score, with 43 per cent in Pakistan and 48 per cent in Turkey, where significant numbers were unsure.
"They are not just paying lip-service. They are saying they specifically want a fair judiciary, freedom of expression and more than one party to participate in elections. It wasn't just a vague concept," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Centre in Washington and director of the project.
"US and Western ideas about democracy have been globalised and are in the Muslim world."
At the same time, however, most Muslims surveyed believe Islam is playing an increasing role in politics, which they view as a positive shift in response to economic problems, growing immorality and concern about Western influence. Jordan was the only exception to the trend.
The survey results indicate that growing numbers of Muslims differentiate between the peaceful influence of Islamic values in politics and the use of religion to justify attacks.
"The people who see Islam playing an important role in political life are the ones most worried about extremism," Mr Kohut said in an interview.
Yet solid majorities in five of the six Muslim countries surveyed - Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey - also now have unfavourable views of the United States. In the sixth, Morocco, views are divided. The governments in all six countries are allied with the United States and recipients of US aid.
The survey, conducted from April to mid-June - and before the London bombings - polled 17,000 people in the six Muslim-dominated countries as well as 11 major Western and Asian nations, including the United States, on attitudes toward Islam, Muslim nations and extremist violence. Since the September 11th terrorism attacks, the non-partisan Pew project has measured attitudes in the Islamic world.
The survey found only 2 per cent of people surveyed in Lebanon and 7 per cent in Turkey expressed confidence that bin Laden would "do the right thing regarding world affairs". Confidence in the al-Qaeda leader dropped from almost a half to about a quarter of those surveyed in Morocco, and from 58 per cent to 37 per cent in Indonesia.
Bin Laden's standing went up slightly in Pakistan to 51 per cent and in Jordan to 60 per cent.
At least three factors have contributed to the notable shift in views about bin Laden and suicide bombings: incidents of terrorism in Muslim countries, an increase in positive feelings about events at home, and passage of time since the 2003 survey conducted after the US invasion of Iraq, said Mr Kohut.
In early 2003, many Muslims "saw a worldwide threat to Islam, and [ bin Laden] represented opposition to the West and the United States", he said. "Tempers have since cooled."
The decline in support for suicide bombings was greatest in Indonesia, which has witnessed deadly bombings at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and a Bali tourist hotel that seriously crimped tourism and foreign investment. Lebanon, Morocco and Pakistan have also experienced particularly bloody attacks since they were last surveyed.
Jordan was the only country where the majority of those surveyed - 57 per cent - still support terrorist acts in defence of Islam, possibly because the majority Palestinian population is emotionally tied to the conflict with Israel, Mr Kohut said.
One of the starkest findings was the divide in views on religions. Most of those surveyed in nine Western countries, including the US, Britain, Canada, France and Russia, say they have favourable views of Muslims. But Muslims surveyed have mixed views of Christians, and anti-Jewish sentiment is "endemic", the survey reported.
Views in the two Asian countries - China and India - were less stark, although roughly half of the Chinese surveyed view Muslims and Christians unfavourably.
In stark contrast to Muslim countries, the Pew poll found the majority of those surveyed in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain strongly believe Muslim minorities want to maintain a distinct identity in these non-Muslim countries.